FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — A young boy is recovering in a southwest Florida hospital after he was sucked into a drainpipe while playing with other children and carried several hundred yards.

The Fort Myers News-Press (http://newspr.es/137cm8Q) reports the child ended up in the Caloosahatchee River. He was able to climb to safety before the adults who were running toward the river heard him yelling Thursday afternoon.

Fort Myers Battalion Chief Chris Bevan says the boy was swept about 300 feet through the drainpipe. He had been playing with friends, who ran to tell adults what happened.

Bevan says the boy was extremely lucky he wasn’t knocked unconscious because he could have drowned.